Two of the UK competitors already in Australia for JWOC next month, Duncan Coombs and Douglas Tullie, showed they had no problems handling our complex granite terrain with some good runs over the weekend at Stanthorpe in southern Queensland.

Competing in a two day event on “The Cascades”,  Duncan took out the 3.7km middle distance course on Saturday in a time of 32.19 while his fellow team member, Douglas, was placed second in 33.16. Thomas Reynolds of New Zealand came third in 36.48.

In the badge event the next day, Douglas covered the challenging 9.4km M21A course to win in a time of 95.13, ahead of locals Oliver Mitchell (98.58) and Ian Anderson (105.24). Duncan unfortunately mis-punched the second last control but his time would have been an excellent 84 minutes.

The 7.5km M17-20A class was a New Zealand trifecta with Thomas Reynolds winning in 71.39, followed by Simon Jager (73.15) and Andrew Peat (81.35).

In the junior girl’s competition, the Australian team members had a close tussle in the 3.2km middle distance event with local Bridget Anderson taking out first place in a time of 42.30, just ahead of Vanessa Round from South Australia in 43.30 and former Australian JWOC representative Ainsley Cavanagh in 51.47. Vanessa again demonstrated her abilities by winning the next day’s 5.8km W21A course in a time of 59.08, ahead of Ainsley on 68.53 and Bridget with 73.08.

Holly Kuestner from the USA won the 5.3km W17-20A class in a time of 99.02, with Carol Ross from Canada second in 109.40 and local Brooke Pye, third in 131.27.

20 juniors and their coaches are currently participating in a training camp on the Granite Belt in Queensland this week before heading south for the official JWOC training camp which starts in Orange on the weekend.